Bishop Smith arts and technology students displayed their talents and achievements at their year-end showcase on June 15.

The school hosts the showcase twice a year – once at the end of each semester – to provide students with the opportunity to showcase their talents and hard work in the avenues of automotive technology, health care, hospitality, music, photography, visual arts, woodworking and drama.

During the first hour of the evening event, the invited attendees – including parents, friends, family and teachers – perused the creative displays, learning about programs and projects the students had undertaken during the year, all while being served homemade appetizers by the culinary and hospitality class.

The exhibits included information tables about a wide variety of health care issues, hand-crafted wooden furniture, automotive work displays and visual art pieces.

“I have two Grade 12 healthcare classes showcasing their work today. These students have done projects or created posters studying diseases like leukemia while others studied hand washing techniques and proper infection control,” said Carol Plue, healthcare teacher at BSCHS. “Many of them are going to go on to become physiotherapists, nurses, personal trainers or even police officers, firefighters, social workers or counsellors.”

Following the opening hour, the attendees filed into the gymnasium to be entertained by a variety of artistic acts that included a CPR flash mob demonstration, short drama pieces and musical performances from the various school bands.

“The CPR flash mob is to bring awareness to the importance of knowing CPR. All of the participating students will wear red and it will start with one student who is going to pretend to collapse and then another student will pretend to do CPR chest compressions but not the actual breathing. Then, more students will come in and do the same CPR routine simultaneously while we play the song ‘Stayin' alive’,” said Plue. “Bu the time they graduate, these students will have their first aid and level C CPR certification.”

Karen Christian, music teacher and lead organizer of the showcase, expressed her pride in the outstanding progress made by the students and the immeasurable amount of talent on display.

“This event serves to show off what these students have done for an entire semester of work from February until June. The tests that we do shouldn't be kept in the four walls of a classroom but we need to teach our students that what they do should be shared and performed in front of others,” said Christian. “They’ve worked so hard and I’ve told them that if they put their best forth tonight it's good enough – it doesn’t need to be Oscar-worthy and it doesn’t need to be Grammy-worthy. We're not here to judge but we're here to just be proud of what these kids are bringing to the stage and I think every kid is doing their best.”